Commands Reference, Volume 4

rpc.nispasswdd Daemon

Purpose

NIS+ password update daemon.

Syntax

/usr/sbin/rpc.nispasswdd [ [ -a Attempts ] [ -c Minutes ] [ -D ] [ -g ] [ -v ]

Description

The rpc.nispasswdd daemon is an ONC+ RPC service that services password update requests from nispasswd and yppasswd. It updates password entries in the NIS+ passwd table.

The rpc.nispasswdd daemon is normally started from a system startup script after the NIS+ server, rpc.nisd has been started. rpc.nispasswdd determines whether it is running on a machine that is a master server for one or more NIS+ directories. If it discovers that the host is not a master server, then it promptly exits. It also determines if rpc.nisd is running in NIS(YP) compatibility mode (the -Y flag and registers as yppasswdd for NIS(YP) clients as well.

The rpc.nispasswdd daemon will syslog all failed password update attempts, which allows an administrator to determine whether someone was trying to "crack" the passwords.

rpc.nispasswdd has to be run by a superuser.

Flags

-a Attempts	Sets the maximum number of attempts allowed to authenticate the caller within a password update request session. Failed attempts are syslogd and the request is cached by the daemon. After the maximum number of allowed attempts the daemon severs the connection to the client. The default value is set to 3.
-c Minutes	Sets the number of minutes a failed password update request should be cached by the daemon. This is the time during which if the daemon receives further password update requests for the same user and authentication of the caller fails, then the daemon will simply not respond. The default value is set to 30 minutes.
-D	Runs in debugging mode.
-g	Generates DES credential. By default the DES credential is not generated for the user if they do not have one. By specifying this flag, if the user does not have a credential, then one will be generated for them and stored in the NIS+ cred table.
-v	Sets verbose mode. With this flag, the daemon sends a running narration of what it is doing to the syslog daemon. This flag is useful for debugging problems.

Exit Status

0	Success
1	An error has occurred.

Files

/etc/init.d/rpc

Initialization script for NIS+

Related Information

The passwd command, yppasswd command.

The rpc.nisd daemon, syslogd daemon.